Biology

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The facility includes refurbished teaching and research laboratories, classroom and office space, a science library, a computer laboratory, and several study areas. The addition connects two of the wings with a courtyard in between. The building houses the departments of biology...

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Jonathan Brown, Professor of Biology
The National Science Foundation has funded, "Evolution of Color Variation in Hawaiian Damselflies: Causal Links for an Ecological Selection Hypothesis," as part of its Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions program (DEB...

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A free program of courses for adults will be available this summer through the Adult Community Exploration Series (ACES), an initiative of the Community Education Council and Grinnell College.
Four courses, each two session long and taught by a faculty member, will be held on...

Tayler Chicoine ’14 often can be found on an environmental mission, testing the waters of Little Bear Creek in Grinnell, Iowa.
Like many Grinnell students, Chicoine has taken full advantage of Grinnell College’s exceptional array of internships, Mentored Advanced Projects, and...

As I sit in my laboratory, the radio plays "Green Grow the Rushes Oh" and I am swept back in an instant to the summer of 1957 when 10 of us wended our way down to the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, where we spent eight weeks at the Southwest Research Station as part of our...

Keeping track of nearly twenty local environmental groups can be difficult for the sustainability-minded student.
The student-led A More Sustainable Grinnell conference is designed to help.
The conference will provide information about the environmental history of the College,...

Two Grinnell students recently won awards for research presentations at the Iowa Physiological Society (IPS) annual meeting in Des Moines. IPS provides networking opportunities for physiologists in applied research and teaching.
“The IPS experience gives the students an...

Off-campus study (OCS) is a major part of the Grinnell experience, in part because so many students — nearly 60 percent — spend at least one semester away from campus. That was one of the reasons Florian Perret ’15 chose Grinnell. “I have this wanderlust,” he says. “I wanted to...

Woodland Wildflower Hike
Join Elizabeth Hill, manager of Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA), on a woodland wildflower hike at CERA on Thursday, May 1.
Spring ephemeral wildflowers grow and flower before the forest trees leaf out and are only around for a few weeks. On the...

Carissa Shoemaker ’14 and Stephanie Porter ’14 organized "A More Sustainable Grinnell" this December. It's aim, they said, was to bring “order, cooperation, and cohesion to the environmental groups on campus” through a discussion of current sustainability practices on campus, as...

The Cyperaceae plant family includes sedges (Carex spp.), bulrushes (Schoenoplectus spp.), cottongrassses (Eriophorum spp.), spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.), and in Iowa, over 160 species of grass-like, tufted plants with reduced flowers, found primarily in wetlands, but also in...

Tweeting, the Inez Louise Henely 1914 Best in Show-winner at the 2014 Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX), is a series of 14 pieces of handmade paper with watermarks of text from Twitter.
The artist, Delia Salomon ’14, explains what led her to create this work. “When I learned how...

Two courses of students and faculty participated in international field trips during winter break 2013.
Kathy Jacobson and Peter Jacobson, associate professors of biology, traveled with students from their Namib Desert Ecology course.
Students in Korea's Economic Development...

The Faulconer Gallery’s thought-provoking art exhibitions benefit more than the casual visitor. Students in courses across science, social studies, and humanities disciplines find that the Faulconer is more than just an art gallery — it’s an extension of the classroom.
Gallery...

Mary Seely, a scientist with a history of work in environmental science, education and policy in southern Africa, will deliver a lecture at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2015, the Noyce Science Center, Room 2021.
Seely's lecture is titled "Gobabeb, Grinnell and the Namib Sand...

Maddie Cloud ’14 and Eric Streed ’14 spent the summer studying damselfly genes mentored by Jackie Brown, biology.
They evaluated the role of isolation between islands as a barrier to gene flow in two multi-island species of Hawaiian damselflies.
Their research included using a...

In a way, you could say the academic drive that eventually led Doug Bechtel ’89 to his new job as executive director of Audubon International started in a Shakespeare class at Grinnell College.
A class in which he struggled.
“The Grinnell faculty fostered in me and my classmates...

8–10 p.m., Fri., Sept. 6, Conard Environmental Research AreaRain date: Sat., Sept. 7. Call 641-269-4384 for rain-call information.
Experience the allure and beauty of the prairie after the sun sets as you explore the College’s Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA)....

For many Grinnell students, the College-owned prairie down Interstate Highway 80 is much more than a place to do biological research — though plenty of that happens.
It’s a place where you can write, read or paint, listen, canoe, or meditate. The 365-acre Conard Environmental...

“It’s really valuable to do research outside of your classroom lab,” says Emily Stuchiner ’15, a biology major with a concentration in environmental studies. She worked on a research project at Columbia University in New York. “If you’re an aspiring biologist or scientist, this...

Grinnell College is a perfect springboard for students who plan to become future physicians, veterinarians, and other health professionals.
Grinnell students receive expert guidance from faculty and staff and rigorous courses that help them enter the nation’s top medical and...

Students are working as neuroscientists in Clark Lingren’s The Language of Neurons, an introduction to biology course.
In 2000, Grinnell College turned the biology curriculum upside down, involving entry-level biology students in cutting-edge research and offering a unique,...

Grinnellians are helping Grinnellians get enough sleep.
This summer four computer science majors worked on project designed specifically for Grinnellians that will help students track their sleep and encourage good sleep habits.
Janet Davis, associate professor of computer...

Vincent Eckhart (1996). Professor of Biology. B.A., Pomona College; Ph.D., University of Utah.
Vince Eckhart joined the Biology Department in 1996 after having taught and conducted research at the University of Utah, University of California-Berkeley, and Cornell University....

Group Info

Our biology curriculum is among the nation’s most innovative; from your very first class, you learn how to think like a biologist, investigating and interpreting life processes. Biology intersects with many interdisciplinary studies and students are encouraged to participate in...